IDDC

IDDC present at the European Development Days 2009

IDDC's EU Task Group held an interactive voting stand at the European Development Days 2009, which took place from 22 - 24 October in Stockholm (Sweden). Based on the simple question “Should a country, which denies 10-15% of its citizens the right to vote, be considered democratic?”, visitors were asked to vote "yes" or "no".

Voting ballots were pre-printed and the Stockholm Electoral Authority provided a typical voting booth and urn. However, most participants had difficulty with voting - even though feeling strongly about their answer to the question - because they could not read the voting ballots, which were all in Braille. Visitors were confronted with the reality that many people with disabilities experience worldwide when wanting to vote.

Over 200 people experienced the frustration of inaccessible voting and discussed how they felt when they had to ask for help, and depend on another persons’ knowledge to vote. Some took the risk and voted anyway, but others were deeply distrusted that they would cast the correct Braille vote. This vote was an opportunity for visitors to get to know the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (article 29 – participation in political and public life), and to discuss the inclusion of people with disabilities in electoral processes and in society.

 
Jerzy Buzek, President of the European Parliament, came to the IDDC stand and talked about the strong disability rights movement in his native country Poland; IDDC suggested what his role as a politician could be to support citizens with disabilities. Margot Wallström, Vice-President of the European Commission, spoke with Rahel from IDDC member organisation Shia. Rahel highlighted IDDC’s Include Everybody campaign to include people with disabilities in efforts to achieve the MDGs. Rahel also expressed her concern that the EC has still not become a party to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), saying that this was particularly important to people with disabilities in her home country, Ethiopia. Ms. Wallström promised to check up on the status of EC conclusion of the CRPD.

During the roundtable discussion on ‘legal empowerment of the poor’ the importance of human rights conventions in bringing the most marginalised groups into the law was raised by both Mary Robinson (former President of Ireland and former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and currently President of Realizing Rights: The Ethical Globalization Initiative) and Helen Clark (Head of UNDP), citing the CRPD and processes that now include persons with disabilities.